Gone 2
by SterlingSilverWolf
Summary: My very first SB fanfic. this is a sequal to the episode "Gone" and this one has a twist to it...this time Spongebob is gone! how will the people of Bikini Bottom react. read to find out. Please R&R&ENJOY!
1. Missing?

Gone two

**Chapter 1: Missing?**

A sunny morning in Bikini Bottom. Every citizen in this town was busy doing the exact same thing. Packing. Packing up to leave the town for "National No Spongebob

Day" That one day of the year where the people of Bikini Bottom leaves the yellow porous sponge we all know and love. Spongebob Squarepants. It was that day

precisly and while a certain Bikini Bottomite was packing, a doleful octopus by the name of Squidward was packing, and he noticed something. "Hmmm...strange..."

Squidward mumbled to himself. "No noise. No horn alarm, no high pitched giggling...in fact no sign if Spongebob whatsoever..." He did not let his guard down though.

He was very sure that any second Spongebob would come bursting in at any given moment. Every three seconds or so Squidward stopped to listen and look around  
for his little yellow headache, as he would call him. Squidward was at his front door, suitcase in tentacle, and still no Spongebob. Squidward took no chances. Before he  
left, he looked through the windows of Spongebob's pineapple house. No lights. No TV on. Nothing...Nothing but pure silence.

Squidward scratched his head in curiosity, but did not care after that. He then left the neighborhood and went to a bus stop where about the entire population of

Bikini Bottom was there waiting to leave. "Squidward! Where ya been lad? You're usually the first one here." said Mr. Krabs. A money-loving crustacean, owner and

founder of the Krusty Krab, home of the Krabby Patty. Mr. Krabs was also Spongebob and Squidward's boss. "I normally would've been here already if Spongebob was

there to wake me up with that blasted alarm. But he isn't" said Squidward. "How's that?" Krabs asked almost confused. "I said...Spongebob is no where to be seen."

said Squidward. "Hopefully he'll stay that way..."

"Ah...I'm sure the boy's around here jellyfishin' or something." said Mr. Krabs with barely any worry. "Whatever..." Squidward said in is 'I don't care tone.' Soon a fellow  
by the name of Patrick Star came to the scene. Patrick was Spongebob's very best friend but even he was attending the 'No Spongebob' festivities. "Hi Squidward!!" he  
said in a very loud voice which almost permanently damaged his eardrums. "Patrick!!" Squidward yelled. "You almost permanently damaged my eardrums." (Hey I just

said that...what gives!? lol) "Sometimes I think you're about 30 times more annoying than Spongebob. Speaking of that, have you seen him?" "Yes..." Patrick said but

then went silent. "Patrick..." Squidward said. "What?" "Where is Spongebob?" the octopus asked. "I don't know?" the slow starfish replied. "But you said you saw

him!" "Well duh I've seen him." Pat said. "He's my best friend...I see him about everyday..." "I meant TODAY YOU BARNICLE-HEAD!!" Squidward shouted which caused

everyone else to become silent. "Nope not today..." Patrick said. "Why?" "Because he is MISSING!!" Squidward shouted. Everybody heard this (who couldn't? XD)

"Ummm..." Squidward said laughing nervously because everyone's attention was on him. "Wait a sec..." said a random fish in the crowd. "Spongebob Squarepants is

missing? As in disappeared...vanished...basically gone?" "Uh...yeah..." Squidward said with his arms crossed. "Then apparently we got packed up for nothing..." said a  
female fish. "At least we don't have to deal with Squarepants in our hometown." said Squidward. Soon he looked up. "He's not here to bug us..." Squidward began to

laugh almost maniacally. "He's gone!! YES!!WHOO-HOO!!" Squidward was running off into the hills by now. Then everyone looked at each other and smiled. Soon, they

were cheering because Spongebob was not there to bother them any more. When the crowd was acting like maniacs, as if they were at a huge party. Unaware to the crowd, a strange pair of eyes from a mysterious red fish dressed in black was watching them from behind a rock...


	2. Enter Red

**Chapter 2: Enter....Red**

"LET'S PARTY!!!" That was the shout of a random fish. About every Bikini Bottomite was at the Krusty Krab to celebrate the first "National No Spongebob Day At Home." Techno music was booming, lights shone everywhere, and people were dancing around like maniacs. Not even caring that Spongebob wasn't there. "This is the best day of my life!" shouted Squidward. "Ah...Squidward..." Mr. Krabs said with a chuckle. "You might as well enjoy it while ya can. I assure you the boy will be back tomorrow." "I wouldn't count on it Krabby." Everyone in the restaurant went white. The light in the room became dim. "Did you forget to pay the electric bill again Mr. Krabs?" Squidward said. "Quiet baldy..." the voice said.

That voice. It was dark, cold, gruff, and somewhat menacing. The crowd looked too the doorway to find the fish dressed in black. He slowly walked in. His boots pounding the wood floor causing vibrations with every step. Random fish folk whispered among themselves. The stranger heard them and looked at them with a frightening look through his black sunglasses. The whisperers became white with fear. He kept walking, looking around the restaurant. He stopped and leaned against the wall by the cash register. "And uh..." Mr. Krabs began. "how do you by chance know that Mr....." The fish raised his fin silencing him, "They call me, Red." "Ah." said Mr. Krabs. "How do you know that by chance, Red?" "Why do they call you Red anyway?" asked Squidward. Red held up his fin. "Red scales." he said. "Anything else is none of your business." "Like I care." said Squidward. "I doubt that Spongebob would come back ." said Red. "Why would he anyway?" "What do you mean?" Squidward asked. "I thought you didn't care." Red said mockingly. "Well as far as I'm concerned the boy needs us." said Mr. Krabs. "I mean without us, Spongebob's life would be empty." "Is that so?" Red asked. "Then why, may I ask, are you all doing what you're doing?" "What are we doing?" asked Patrick. "You're little holiday." Red said. "It's National No Spongebob Day." said a random male fish. "Exactly." said Red. "And who in their right mind would do something like that?"

"Well, Spongebob always gives us a hard time with our lives, and we needed a break from all that." said Sandy. Red scowled. "Hard time eh?"  
"Well duh," said Squidward. "Spongebob is the bane of my existence." "Oh really?" Red said. He growled. "I've noticed a chain of events here." Red began. "You people are more mean to Spongebob than he is annoying to you." "That's not true." said Mr. Krabs. "Oh yes it is." said Red. "Name one time that has happened." said Patrick. "Very well." said Red. "Just give me an example of how Spongebob irritated you in any way." Red crossed his fins.

"How about the time with the rocket." Sandy said. "He stuffed us all into sacks like potatoes!" Everyone muttered in agreement. "That was another person's fault." Red said. He pointed to Patrick. "That chubby sea star woke him up in the middle of the night and they got carried away playing with the rocket." Sandy's eyes widened and she glared at grinned sheepishly.

"Anyone else have anything to say?" Red said. "I'll go next." said Squidward. "I've got plenty of examples." "Bring it on big-nose." said Red. Squidward growled. "Well for one thing, he's constantly annoying me with stupid boat horn alarm!" "And your clarinet playing isn't scallops chirping in the meadow." Red pointed out. Squidward snarled. Red chuckled. "Got anything else?" he asked Squidward. "He's completely immature!" Squidward said. "He frolics in fields catching jellyfish like a child when he should be an adult!" "I can recall when you, yes _you_ convinced Spongebob to be normal." said Red.

"And your point is?" Squidward asked. "Don't you remember how it turned out?" Red asked. "I remember!" Mr. Krabs shouted. "That change in the boy cost me a lot of money." Red crossed his fins feeling like he had proved his point. "Well, I have had nothing to do with Spongebob's foul-ups." said Mr. Krabs. "Wrong." Red said. "Remember when you printed those newspaper stories?" "What now?" Mr. Krabs said feeling caught off guard. "You forced Spongebob to print untruthful stories of everyone in Bikini Bottom." Red said. "And no matter how many times he told you to stop you wouldn't listen." Mr. Krabs was incredulous. "How do you know this?" he asked. "Yeah how _do_ you know this?" Squidward asked. "I've never even seen you around here." said Sandy. "That's easy." said Red. "Spongebob talked to me when he was feeling down and he told me everything." "You have?" Sandy asked. "That's right sister." said Red. "He even mentioned that everyone even took advantage of him when he found a way to fly. And you made fun of him for attempting to do that in the first place." "Where did we do that?" Patrick asked. "Remember those magic pants he had?" Red said. "I mean, come on. You don't need blow-up pants to scratch your stomach or clean your garage and rub someone's scalp." Red stated to become angry. "And when he was blown out of the sky, you showed no care for him. Just the pants." he said.

"Don't you see? He was your friend. He cared about you." Red said. "And how do you repay him? You treat him like dirt, and come up with a holiday where you act like he doesn't even exist!" "Well if you ask me," Squidward began. "We'd all be better off if Spongebob didn't exist." Sandy gasped. Red snarled. "I highly doubt that." said Red. "Spongebob has the biggest heart in the ocean. Sure he's a bit unusual but nobody's perfect, everybody makes mistakes." Red chuckled. "You people will soon realize that you need him more than you think." he said. The others looked at him like he was crazy. "It's true." Red added. "Yeah right!" Squidward said. "I'll never regret what I said." "Trust me." said Red. "You will. You all will."

Squidward huffed. Sandy was deep in thought. "Where is Spongebob?" Sandy asked. "How do we know that you didn't run him out of town?" Sandy was suspicious. Red smiled. "What makes you think that missy?" he said. "What did you tell him when he came to you?" Sandy asked. "We don't have time for these pointless questions!" Squidward shouted. "If you're here to just spoil the fun, then I suggest that you'd leave." "Fine." He said. "But I suggest you all think about what I said... before it's too late." He left the Krusty Krab. "Too late for what?" Patrick asked. "He does have a point." said Mr. Krabs. "Who's gonna make me patties if me fry cook is gone?" "You could hire another fry cook." suggested a fish in the crowd.

"No one can cook patties like Spongebob." Krabs said. "Your original fry cook Jim was better." said Squidward. "But he's retired." Mr. Krabs pointed out. "I'll cook for ya." said a random male teen. Mr. Krabs sighed. "Ok, you're hired." he said.

Sandy left before the others could see her. She felt low.

Meanwhile behind the restaurant,

Red kicked a soda can into a nearby dumpster. He smirked. He reached into his pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a cellular phone. He dialed a number. A couple rings later, a female voice answered. "Hello?" The voice said. "Zipporah, this is Big Fish calling." said Red. "Zipporah to Big Fish," the female voice said in a whisper. "How goes it?"

"Excellent." Red replied. "I think I've got them rattled." "So far so good then." the female voice responded. "Next is that you need to lay low for a while. Let what you told them sink in first." "Gotcha." Red said. "And let me know what goes on for the next few days." the voice added. "You got it." Red said. "Big Fish out." "Good luck buddy." said the voice. "We'll talk about the rest of the plan later." Red nodded and hung up his phone. Red began walking down the street, taking one last look at the restaurant. He smiled. "You all are in for a huge surprise." he said. Red chuckled and kept walking until he was gone.

Chapter 2: Enter....Red

"LET'S PARTY!!!" That was the shout of a random fish. About every Bikini Bottomite was at the Krusty Krab to celebrate the first "National No Spongebob Day At Home." Techno music was booming, lights shone everywhere, and people were dancing around like maniacs. Not even caring that Spongebob wasn't there. "This is the best day of my life!" shouted Squidward. "Ah…Squidward…" Mr. Krabs said with a chuckle. "You might as well enjoy it while ya can. I assure you the boy will be back tomorrow." "I wouldn't count on it Krabby." Everyone in the restaurant went white. The light in the room became dim. "Did you forget to pay the electric bill again Mr. Krabs?" Squidward said. "Quiet baldy…" the voice said.

That voice. It was dark, cold, gruff, and somewhat menacing. The crowd looked too the doorway to find the fish dressed in black. He slowly walked in. His boots pounding the wood floor causing vibrations with every step. Random fish folk whispered among themselves. The stranger heard them and looked at them with a frightening look through his black sunglasses. The whisperers became white with fear. He kept walking, looking around the restaurant. He stopped and leaned against the wall by the cash register. "And uh…" Mr. Krabs began. "how do you by chance know that Mr.…." The fish raised his fin silencing him, "They call me, Red." "Ah." said Mr. Krabs. "How do you know that by chance, Red?" "Why do they call you Red anyway?" asked Squidward. Red held up his fin. "Red scales." he said. "Anything else is none of your business." "Like I care." said Squidward. "I doubt that Spongebob would come back ." said Red. "Why would he anyway?" "What do you mean?" Squidward asked. "I thought you didn't care." Red said mockingly. "Well as far as I'm concerned the boy needs us." said Mr. Krabs. "I mean without us, Spongebob's life would be empty." "Is that so?" Red asked. "Then why, may I ask, are you all doing what you're doing?" "What are we doing?" asked Patrick. "You're little holiday." Red said. "It's National No Spongebob Day." said a random male fish. "Exactly." said Red. "And who in their right mind would do something like that?"

"Well, Spongebob always gives us a hard time with our lives, and we needed a break from all that." said Sandy. Red scowled. "Hard time eh?" "Well duh," said Squidward. "Spongebob is the bane of my existence." "Oh really?" Red said. He growled. "I've noticed a chain of events here." Red began. "You people are more mean to Spongebob than he is annoying to you." "That's not true." said Mr. Krabs. "Oh yes it is." said Red. "Name one time that has happened." said Patrick. "Very well." said Red. "Just give me an example of how Spongebob irritated you in any way." Red crossed his fins.

"How about the time with the rocket." Sandy said. "He stuffed us all into sacks like potatoes!" Everyone muttered in agreement. "That was another person's fault." Red said. He pointed to Patrick. "That chubby sea star woke him up in the middle of the night and they got carried away playing with the rocket." Sandy's eyes widened and she glared at Patrick.

Patrick grinned sheepishly. "Anyone else have anything to say?" Red said. "I'll go next." said Squidward. "I've got plenty of examples." "Bring it on big-nose." said Red. Squidward growled. "Well for one thing, he's constantly annoying me with stupid boat horn alarm!" "And your clarinet playing isn't scallops chirping in the meadow." Red pointed out. Squidward snarled. Red chuckled. "Got anything else?" he asked Squidward. "He's completely immature!" Squidward said. "He frolics in fields catching jellyfish like a child when he should be an adult!" "And your point is?" Squidward asked. "Don't you remember how it turned out?" Red asked. "I remember!" Mr. Krabs shouted. "That change in the boy cost me a lot of money." Red crossed his fins feeling like he had proved his point. "Well, I have had nothing to do with Spongebob's foul-ups." said Mr. Krabs. "Wrong." Red said. "Remember when you printed those newspaper stories?" "What now?" Mr. Krabs said feeling caught off guard. "You forced Spongebob to print untruthful stories of everyone in Bikini Bottom." Red said. "And no matter how many times he told you to stop you wouldn't listen." Mr. Krabs was incredulous. "How do you know this?" he asked. "Yeah how _do_ you know this?" Squidward asked. "I've never even seen you around here." said Sandy. "That's easy." said Red. "Spongebob talked to me when he was feeling down and he told me everything." "You have?" Sandy asked. "That's right sister." said Red. "He even mentioned that everyone even took advantage of him when he found a way to fly. And you made fun of him for attempting to do that in the first place." "Where did we do that?" Patrick asked. "Remember those magic pants he had?" Red said. "I mean, come on. You don't need blow-up pants to scratch your stomach or clean your garage and rub someone's scalp." Red stated to become angry. "And when he was blown out of the sky, you showed no care for him. Just the pants." he said.

"Don't you see? He was your friend. He cared about you." Red said. "And how do you repay him? You treat him like dirt, and come up with a holiday where you act like he doesn't even exist!" "Well if you ask me," Squidward began. "We'd all be better off if Spongebob didn't exist." Sandy gasped. Red snarled. "I highly doubt that." said Red. "Spongebob has the biggest heart in the ocean. Sure he's a bit unusual but nobody's perfect, everybody makes mistakes." Red chuckled. "You people will soon realize that you need him more than you think." he said. The others looked at him like he was crazy. "It's true." Red added. "Yeah right!" Squidward said. "I'll never regret what I said." "Trust me." said Red. "You will. You all will."

Squidward huffed. Sandy was deep in thought. "Where is Spongebob?" Sandy asked. "How do we know that you didn't run him out of town?" Sandy was suspicious. Red smiled. "What makes you think that missy?" he said. "What did you tell him when he came to you?" Sandy asked. "We don't have time for these pointless questions!" Squidward shouted. "If you're here to just spoil the fun, then I suggest that you'd leave." "Fine." He said. "But I suggest you all think about what I said... before it's too late." He left the Krusty Krab. "Too late for what?" Patrick asked. "He does have a point." said Mr. Krabs. "Who's gonna make me patties if me fry cook is gone?" "You could hire another fry cook." suggested a fish in the crowd.

"No one can cook patties like Spongebob." Krabs said. "Your original fry cook Jim was better." said Squidward. "But he's retired." Mr. Krabs pointed out. "I'll cook for ya." said a random male teen. Mr. Krabs sighed. "Ok, you're hired." he said.

Sandy left before the others could see her. She felt low.

Meanwhile behind the restaurant,

Red kicked a soda can into a nearby dumpster. He smirked. He reached into his pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a cellular phone. He dialed a number. A couple rings later, a female voice answered. "Hello?" The voice said. "Zipporah, this is Big Fish calling." said Red. "Zipporah to Big Fish," the female voice said in a whisper. "How goes it?"

"Excellent." Red replied. "I think I've got them rattled." "So far so good then." the female voice responded. "Next is that you need to lay low for a while. Let what you told them sink in first." "Gotcha." Red said. "And let me know what goes on for the next few days." the voice added. "You got it." Red said. "Big Fish out." "Good luck buddy." said the voice. "We'll talk about the rest of the plan later." Red nodded and hung up his phone. Red began walking down the street, taking one last look at the restaurant. He smiled. "You all are in for a huge surprise." he said. Red chuckled and kept walking until he was gone.


	3. Patrick

**Chapter 3: Patrick**

It has now been a couple of days since Red paid a visit to the Krusty Krab. No one has seen him since that day.

Patrick was snoring loudly, sleeping on his chair underneath his rock. Drops of drool escaped his mouth. He soon began to twitch, as though he were having a nightmare. He had visions of Spongebob playing many of the various activities that they enjoy. Jellyfishing, blowing bubbles, playing board games, and so on. But with each activity, Patrick saw Spongebob fade away.  
"No." he mumbled. "Spongebob where are you? Come back." He couldn't stop Spongebob from fading away. When there was no sign of his best friend left, Patrick kept hearing a voice. Spongebob's voice. A tear came to his eye as he slept. "Why, Patrick?" Spongebob's voice eerily echoed through Patrick's dream. "Spongebob?" said Patrick.

He sat bolt upright, tears streaming down his face. "What, where am I!?" Patrick shouted. He looked around and saw only his room of sand in his rock. "Whew." he said. "Just a bad dream." Patrick wiped the tears and sweat from his face.

He decided to get a drink to calm himself down.  
He reached for a cup in his cabinet of sand. He reached into his fridge and poured himself a glass of lemonade. "Ah," said Patrick. "nothing like a glass of lemonade to help you relax after a super scary nightmare." He leaned back in his chair, trying to relax. As Patrick tried took his glass for a sip of his drink, he felt a wave of guilt wash over him. He remembered what Red had said to them. (Wow Patrick remembered something) Patrick sighed. He looked at his glass of lemonade in his hand. Then before his eyes, the ice cubes in the cup began to become more spherical.  
"Huh?" Patrick said to himself. A face began to form in his glass. A familiar face. A disappointed face. "Spongebob?" Patrick asked. _"Some friend you are." _the face seemed to say in Spongebob's voice.  
Patrick began to hyperventilate. "My lemonade!' He cried. "Spongebob turned into my lemonade!" "You abandoned me Patrick." Spongebob's voice said. "But…but I-" Patrick stuttered. "How could you Patrick?" the Spongebob vision said. "You're my best friend."  
Patrick began to tear up. He held the glass of lemonade close to him and hugged it tight. It broke within three seconds. "Spongebob!" Patrick cried out. He began to bawl loudly. "Spongebob, I'm sorry!" he cried. Patrick stopped for a moment he licked the remaining lemonade off of his face. "Tasty." he said. Despite this, he still felt guilt welling up in his being. "I need to get out of the house." said Patrick.

He lifted up his rock dome and left, deciding to take a walk. He went down the street, passing various shops and houses, including the now closed Krusty Krab. It was a Sunday after all.

He kept thinking about the vision he saw.  
He felt even more guilty as the words he heard sunk in. A Jellyfish buzzed by. "Oooooh." Patrick said, staring at the jellyfish and giggling like a child. Out of nowhere Patrick pulled a net from his Bermuda trunks and ran after the little critter. "Come back." He said.  
He tried to catch the jelly, but tripped over a pebble and fell flat on his face. Patrick manage to get himself back up. He was greeted by another vision. The jellyfish's bell had been replaced by Spongebob's head. Patrick somewhat smiled. The Spongebob jelly bell did the traditional Spongebob laugh. Patrick laughed along. He felt slightly better. But then the vision of his friend vanished and the Jellyfish buzzed away.

"Wait!" Patrick called. "Come back!" He ran after the Jellyfish but then he tripped on another pebble.  
"Not again!" Patrick said, his voice muffled by the sand. He lifted himself up and sighed. "I didn't think I'd miss Spongebob this much." he said. Patrick sat down on a nearby park bench, and began to cry again. "What am I going to do?" he asked to himself. Patrick wasn't alone.  
In the nearby alleyway, a figure stood, watching Patrick's every move. It was none other than Red. As he watched the sad sea star, he heaved a heavy sigh. It was like he felt compassionate toward the fellow.

But he remembered that he needed to lay low. Red watched him for a few seconds longer, feeling sorry for him. He said a silent prayer for the guy, asking God to look after him, before silently moving off into the darkness and out of sight.


	4. Mr Krabs

**Chapter 4: Mr. Krabs**

Mr. Krabs performed his nightly ritual of closing down the Krusty Krab and counting his profit from the day. "Let's see." he said looking over his profit. Mr. Krabs smiled as he studied the balance. "Ah, nothing like the smell of money." he said. Krabs frowned when he looked at the balance. "Oh drat, I'm short for the day." he said. "Let me look it over again." But now matter how many times he counted the money, it always came up short.  
"Drat." Krabs said. "I think I need to launch more aggressive advertising." Mr. Krabs began to brainstorm ideas to make up for the loss. "Hmm, what can I do?" he said to himself. "And why would the profits come up short?" He kept thinking. "It's impossible that the profits are down." Mr. Krabs said. "There's nothing that could cause this. Especially since those Kelp Shakes were banned."  
He threw the balance statement down and huffed with disgust. Krabs sighed and sat at his desk. He brainstormed ideas on how his profits could be down. He thought about his employees pay. "Hmm, I could slash their wages in half."  
He said. As he brainstormed, Mr. Krabs began to feel droopiness in his eyes. "Oy, I'm tired all of a sudden." He said. Krabs yawned and decided to go home. He left and locked up his restaurant. Within an hour Krabs was asleep at his home in his bed. His sleep was disturbed, however, by a dream.

He was standing in an empty, black room, or at least what appeared to be a room. He couldn't discern any floor or ceiling. Everything was pitch black. Soon the black area became the Krusty Krab. Mr. Krabs found himself sitting at the cash register. "What's going on here?" he wondered. "Order up!" said a rather cheerful voice from behind him. "Huh?" Krabs said. He saw none other than his loyal and faithful employee, Spongebob come from the kitchen and served some Krabby Patties to the customers. He then saw Squidward mopping the floors of the restaurant.  
"What's going on?" Krabs asked himself.  
He then heard the "ka-ching!" of the register. He looked down at the money within. He smiled, as always he did when he saw the green stuff. As he looked, however, he noticed that the change began to grow dim. "Huh?" Krabs exclaimed. He watched with horror as the coins disappeared. Before his eyes, more of the money began to disappear.  
"Oh no!" he shouted. "Me money!" Soon, all of the money had disappeared. "What's going on!?" He cried. "Oh, my beautiful money!" "Mr. Krabs!" Spongebob cried out. Krabs turned to Spongebob. He saw that his employee too, was fading away. "Spongebob, what's happening' to ye!?" he cried. Spongebob watched as his body began to vanish. He looked up at Mr. Krabs with mournful eyes, and waved goodbye, just as he finished vanishing. Squidward, who had been watching, burst out with joy when Spongebob had vanished. "Woo-hoo! No more Spongebob driving me nuts! Woo-hoo!" He began to dance around in circles. The room began to spin as he did so. Mr. Krabs soon became dizzy. "I told you." said an echoing dark voice. Mr. Krabs somehow recognized it. "Red?" he asked. "Didn't I tell you?" Red said. "I did. And like the greedy idiot that you are, you didn't listen. Typical invertebrate." Mr. Krabs screamed and was soon awakened when his body had rolled off of his bed and hit the floor.

"Oof!" he said as he hit the ground. "What a horrible nightmare." Mr. Krabs saw that it was morning. He looked at the clock. Seven o'clock, just before he had to be in to open up shop. Mr. Krabs showered, brushed his teeth, ate a quick breakfast and then got into his boat to drive to the Krusty Krab. He pulled into the restaurant and leapt out, eager to start the day and get his mind off of the events of last night. He pulled the keys out of his pocket and twirled them around his claw.

During the hours of the day, things at the Krusty Krab seemed to be doing quite well. Mr. Krabs was in his office, relaxing. He was looking over some of the past ledgers, looking for any anomalies. "Let's see…" he said to himself. He examined each ledger meticulously. Mr. Krabs didn't find anything out of the ordinary.

"It seems nothing is wrong." He said. "Then why am I short?" He then heard a voice that didn't sound too happy.

"Mr. Krabs!" Squidward shouted. Krabs burst out of his office and ran to the cash register. "What is it Squidward?" he asked. "Look at this guy!" Squidward said. "He is the laziest fry cook I've ever seen!" "What!?" Krabs exclaimed. The cook was loafing around, flipping burgers with the speed of dripping molasses. Mr. Krabs growled and went into the kitchen. The new fry cook didn't even see him or hear him. He was listening to music.

"Oy, you!" Mr. Krabs roared. The fry cook turned to see Mr. Krabs at the kitchen entrance. He took off his headphones. "Listen you!" Mr. Krabs bellowed. "The name is Chet." said the fry cook. "I don't care what your name is." Mr. Krabs said. "Just pick up the pace!" "Dude, what is your problem?" Chet asked. "My problem is you are a slowpoke!" Krabs shouted. "Now get back to work!" Chet sighed. "All right." he said "All right." Chet set out an order on the serving window for Squidward to take. Mr. Krabs scurried out of the kitchen.  
"Note to self." he said. "Never again hire a high school student." As he walked, Mr. Krabs glanced at a customer who was about to take a bite of a Krabby Patty. "Enjoying your meal?" he asked. The customer took a bite."I'll take that as a yes." said Mr. Krabs. The customer then, stopped chewing his meal. He had a look of illness on his face. Krabs became worried. The customer spat his Krabby Patty into a napkin. "Actually this patty was _far _from enjoyable." he said. "What do you mean?" Krabs asked. "This Krabby Patty tastes terrible." said the customer. "I think it's overcooked."  
"No, that's not it." said a lady customer. Apparently she did not enjoy her patty as well. "It's undercooked." she said. "Uh-oh." Mr. Krabs said to himself. "That little whelp." he thought. "First he's slow, and now I come to find he can't even cook!" Mr. Krabs soon saw more and more unsatisfied customers rejecting their food, and leaving the restaurant. Krabs yelled for Chet.  
Chet came from the kitchen. "Have an explanation for this?" Mr. Krabs asked, pointing at the mounds of rejected food. Chet just shrugged his shoulders. Mr. Krabs cuffed him on the shoulder. "They were complaining of their food." he said. Mr. Krabs took a patty that a customer had left behind so Chet could see. "I don't see what the big deal is." said Chet. "I'll tell ya what the big deal is!" Mr. Krabs shouted. "Bad patties means the customers don't come back, and when they don't come back, I don't make me money!" he shouted. "Can you get that into your head boy!?"  
Chet just scoffed. "Whatever." he said. Krabs fumed. "If that's the attitude you're going to have, you can kiss your job goodbye!" he shouted. "You're fired!" "Aw c'mon man!" Chet said. "I cooked the burgers like you asked me too!" Krabs growled. "It's not just a matter of cooking 'em, boy! Ye gotta make sure you cook them RIGHT!!!" Chet scoffed again. "Whatever." he said. "I'm out of here." And with that, the former fry cook left the building. "You know," Squidward began. "now that he's gone, who'll make the patties now?" "I don't know." Krabs said.  
"Do I wish Spongebob were here now." he said. Squidward just sighed.  
"Spongebob me boy, where are ye?" Mr. Krabs asked to the air. He sighed. "I guess we _do_ need you more than we think." Krabs said. Outside of the Krusty Krab, Red was watching. He seemed to hear what Mr. Krabs had said. "Well, it seems you guys are finally starting to get it." he said with a grin. "Now, let's see if you can read the epiphany." Red then took out his cell phone to make another call to "Zipporah." He waited for her to pick up.  
"Hello?" a female voice said on the phone.  
"Zipporah, it's Big Fish." said Red. "Ah, hello." She said. "How's the plan coming?" "Perfectly." Red replied. "It seems the crab is starting to understand now." "Excellent." Zipporah said. "Who's next, do you think?" Red took out a piece of paper that looked like a list of names. "Next on my list is:" Red began. "Her."


	5. Sandy

**Chapter 5: Sandy**

Sandy was sitting in her treedome. She had a book in her hands, and was trying to read. Her thoughts kept wandering back to Red... and Spongebob. Sandy sighed. She put the book down. She just couldn't concentrate. "Maybe a warm bath will help." she said. As Sandy went to the bathroom, she put on her bathrobe and got a bottle of bubble bath soap. She turned on the tap, making sure the temperature was just right. She put the bubble liquid into the running water. The tub was soon filled with bubbles. Sandy smiled. Bubble baths always helped. But then looking at the bubbles made her think. She began to think about Spongebob again. He loved heading out into the fields and blowing bubbles. He had become an expert at creating all kinds of shapes with them. Sandy giggled as she was thinking of her friend. But her smile didn't last. She tried to shake the feeling of sadness welling up in her. Sandy sighed as she stepped into the tub. The feeling of the warm soothing water seemed to make her feel better for the moment. She hunkered down into the bubbles.

After about a half-hour, Sandy was relaxing in her bed in her night gown. She tried to read her book again.

Her thoughts were still bothered by thoughts of Spongebob, and everything Red had said. Sandy put her book away and snuggled into her bed sheets. She sighed. "What if that Red fella was right?" she said. Sandy didn't like the thought. She couldn't stand the idea of not seeing her friend again. "I didn't know we'd all hurt Spongebob so much." Sandy said. "Why didn't I think of that.?" She gave out a big sigh. "And he said _I_ was the smartest one in Bikini Bottom." Sandy sighed and rolled over. Warm tears were beginning to fill her eyes. She turned off her lamp and dozed off to sleep.

Her mind's eye saw visions of her walking along the streets of Bikini Bottom. The outside was still and quiet. It unnerved her. But the silence was broken when Sandy heard the sound of a stopping bus. She turned and saw a bus pull up to the stop over by her house. Curious, Sandy went over to the stop to see who would be coming off of the bus. She sat down on the bench. The hatch doors opened.

Sandy peered over to the bus doors. She watched as a familiar form appeared...Spongebob. Sandy smiled widely. "Spongebob!" she exclaimed with joy. Spongebob turned and saw her. He too, gave out a big smile. "Sandy!" said Spongebob.  
Sandy leapt up and enveloped him in a hug. Spongebob too, wrapped his arms around her. "You're back!" Sandy yipped happily. Spongebob laughed. "Of course I'm back." he said. "I couldn't stay away from Bikini Bottom forever." Sandy laughed with him. "Spongebob, I'm so sorry." She said. "I shouldn't have treated you like I did. I guess I'm not as smart as you thought I was."  
Spongebob laughed. "What's so funny?" Sandy asked. "Sandy, you _are _smart." Spongebob said. "But…" Sandy protested. Spongebob paused her. "You know Sandy," he said, "smart doesn't just mean knowing everything." Sandy smiled and giggled. "That is true." she said. "We all make mistakes." Spongebob added. "You forgive me?" Sandy asked. Spongebob smiled. "Of course I do." he said. "How could I not forgive you?" Sandy smiled.  
He was right. Why wouldn't he? "Thanks Spongebob." she said. Spongebob smiled and embraced her. "You really are a true friend." Sandy added. True friend. Those two words echoed through her mind.

Sandy woke up and slowly opened her eyes. She yawned. She sat upright in bed and stretched. Sandy felt hopeful. She thought that maybe things wouldn't turn out so bad after all. Sandy got up and decided to fix herself a cup of tea. She went down to her kitchen and pulled out her teapot. She filled it with water and turned on the stove. She took out a pack of peanut tea. When water boiled, she took out a cup and filled it with water.  
She took the tea bag and put it in the water. The sweet aroma of peanut oil filled her nostrils. Sandy smiled with content. Her thoughts soon turned to the fact that Spongebob was still gone, and no one knew where he was. She frowned. She took a sip of her peanut tea once it was ready. She felt bad. She still felt that she had let him down, and been a poor friend. And Spongebob was always a true friend to her. Even when he would get on her nerves.

Sandy felt tears return. She saw one drop into her tea. She wiped her eyes. "Maybe a walk would do me some good." Sandy thought. She finished her tea and changed out of her nightgown. She got into her bikini outfit, then into her air suit.  
She adjusted the helmet before heading out. Like in her dream, the outside was still and quiet. Sandy walked down the street, hanging her head in sorrow. "What am I going to do?" she thought to herself. Sandy was so preoccupied with her thoughts, that she didn't notice the figure until she nigh on ran into him. "Oh I'm sorry." she said. "I didn't even see…" Sandy stopped. She saw that the figure she ran into was none other than Red. "You!" she shouted. "Yep, it's me." said Red. "You should be more careful little lady." "What are you doing here?!" Sandy shouted. "Taking a walk like you are." Red said. "No need to get your fur in a tizzy." "And why shouldn't I, you jerk." Sandy said angrily. "Calm down." said Red. "I mean no harm."  
"Sure you don't." Sandy replied. "I'm already hurt enough."  
"Aw, what's the matter?" Red asked. "Do not get cute with me." Sandy said. "I can see you're quite upset." he said. "It's Spongebob, am I right?" Sandy just huffed and crossed her arms. "I'll take that as a yes." he said.

Sandy growled. "What's it to you?" Red smiled. "And I'll take that to mean that my words have sunk in." he said. Sandy sighed. "Yeah." she said. Red smiled and put a fin on Sandy's shoulder. She slapped it. "Don't touch me!" "Ouch!" Red exclaimed. "I'm just trying to help."  
"Yeah right." she said. "Like you care."Sandy gave Red a death glare. "Wanna bet?" he asked. "No thanks." said Sandy. "Fair enough." Red said. "But you'll see. I can tell you're feeling remorse." "Just leave me alone." Sandy said. "Listen to me." Red said. Sandy sighed. "What is it?" she asked. "I can tell you're broken up about this." he said. "And it pains me to see someone like this." "So why were you giving everyone a hard time huh?" Sandy asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Red asked. "Yeah, yeah." Sandy said. "We brought this upon ourselves. Don't rub it in."

"No." he said. "I just want you to realize how much you hurt someone you consider a friend." Sandy sighed. "And now it's hurting me." she said. Red nodded. "You're a smart squirrel." he said. Sandy huffed. She continued to walk. Red watched her. He smiled.  
When Sandy was out of his sight, he sighed. "I'm just glad nothing bad happened to you when you figured it out." Red said to himself. Red drew his coat around himself and skulked off into the alley. Sandy continued walking. She tried to shake her feelings, but she couldn't. She turned and walked a beeline straight to her treedome. Sandy entered, and threw her air suit off. She collapsed on the tree, burying her face in her arms, and started to cry. "Oh Spongebob." Sandy cried, tears staining her fur. "Please come back."  
Red was hiding behind a rock, watching her. Seeing Sandy so sad. He too, shed a few tears.


	6. Squidward

**Chapter 6: Squidward**

The night air was shattered by a bizarre sound. It vaguely resembled music from a wind instrument. In this case, it was. Squidward was busy practicing with his clarinet, though it didn't appear it was doing him any good. His playing was awful. It was awful before, but now it sounded much worse than a sad and dying animal.

Squidward didn't seem to notice, as he continued to play.

He kept playing until something impacted his window. It was a rotten tomato. Squidward growled, walked to his tomato splattered window, opened it and stuck his head out. Another tomato screamed in and splat right on his face. "Hey!" Squidward shouted. "What's the big idea?" "You stink!" The person who threw the tomato roared.

Squidward growled and grabbed an orange from his fridge. He went back to his window and hurled the orange at the one who threw the tomato. It missed. "Drat!" he shouted. Then another tomato came flying at Squidward and hit him smack dab in the middle of his forehead. "Gah!" he shouted. He closed his window and wiped the tomato residue off of his face.

"My playing has taken such nosedive." said Squidward. "What's going on?" He sighed. "At least Spongebob's not here to ruin my genius." Squidward said.

Squidward felt an odd feeling in his gut when he said that. He tried to play his clarinet again, but his playing was awful. Even he had to admit it. He angrily threw the instrument down and yelled. "What's gotten into me?" He wondered. "This has been going on since Spongedork Loserpants left." he said. He felt something welling up in his stomach. "What the?" he wondered at the sudden feeling. Squidward sighed and decided to do some painting instead. He pulled out some paint and an easel and set them up in his living room. He dabbed some paint on a pallet and set to work. "What to paint tonight?" he asked himself.

He decided to just let his muse decide itself and selected a color. He dabbed the brush into the paint and began to paint on the canvas. The color Squidward chose was a bright yellow. "Hmm." he thought as he was working. "Let's see how this turns out." he painted and painted, eventually choosing white and brown and red. He kept painting for what seemed like hours. Squidward then chose a light blue.  
He carefully painted out the details of his developing picture. As he painted, a wave of sadness and guilt came over him. He tried to shake it off, but it was nearly impossible. He almost made some mistakes as he was painting.  
"Gah." Squidward said as he accidentally put some blue where yellow should be. He waited for it to dry some more and then painted over it. He kept painting until the picture was finished. He took a step back to admire his work, and gasped at what he saw.  
The picture he had painted was a portrait of Spongebob himself. This did give Squidward a scare. But what scared him the most was the expression he had painted on Spongebob.

The portrait, rather than being one of a happy Spongebob with his ridiculous grin, was one that bore an expression of broken heartedness. Similar to that picture Squidward had taken during their first Christmas.

His eyes had swollen to enormous proportions, his brows were furrowed as one about to cry would have them. From one eye, a teardrop leaked out and threatened to fall to the sandy bottom. His long nose drooped down over his chest. Squidward just stared at his painting for what seemed like forever.

"What the?" he said to himself. He could hardly believe what had just come from his paintbrush. It was as though and invisible hand had guided it. "Get a grip Squidward." he said to himself. "Remember life is much better without that annoying Squarepants." But somehow, the feeling that he had done something terrible just didn't seem to want to leave.

Squidward decided to fix himself a hot meal. That always helped him relax and forget his troubles. He wend down into his kitchen and looked at some of his recipes. He soon spotted a recipe for a gourmet burger. He smiled. "One of my favorites."

Squidward gathered the ingredients; some romaine lettuce, black angus cow shark beef, Swiss cheese, tomato, bacon, and the most unusual ingredient of them all, some onion rings. He pulled an electric griddle out of his cupboard and plugged it in so he could heat the patties.  
He then began to chop and slice the vegetables. Squidward hummed a tune as he did so. Soon, the griddle was heated enough to cook the patties. He took one out and slapped it on the griddle. The aroma of the cooking meat made him think of something. Something familiar.

His mind's eye took him back to the cash register at the Krusty Krab. He saw Mr. Krabs, pacing around, anxious to hear the sound of money being put into the register. "Order up." he heard a familiar voice say. Squidward then saw Spongebob come out of the kitchen with some Krabby Patties. "Order up!" He repeated, Squidward was frozen in place. "Spongebob?" he said to himself. "What's wrong?" Spongebob asked. Mr. Krabs rolled his eyes."Yes, it's Spongebob." he said. "Now get back to work!"  
"Aye aye captain!" Spongebob exclaimed. Squidward began taking money from customers. He opened the cash register, before noticing a hooded figure standing in line. He kept taking orders and money until the hooded figure came up to the register.  
"May I take your…" he began, before a leering face burst from underneath the hood yelling "Surprise!" Squidward was startled when he saw that it was Red himself next in line. "What are you doing here!?" Squidward asked. "I'm hungry." Red said with a wicked looking grin. "What do you want?" Squidward asked.  
"Don't worry." said Spongebob in a sweet voice. "I know exactly what he wants."

Squidward was confused. "Uh, Spongebob." he said. "What's going on?" "Isn't it obvious?" Red asked. Spongebob's face soon started to become angry yet the emotion in his eyes expressed pain and sorrow. "Don't you remember that old rule?" He asked in an angry, hurt voice. "Do to others only what you would want them to do to you?" He asked. "Huh?" Squidward asked. "And you said I'm an idiot." said Spongebob. "What?" Squidward asked again. "It's the Golden Rule Squidster." said Red. "Treat other the way you want to be treated."

"You hated me!" Spongebob shouted. "What did I ever do to you to deserve that kind of treatment?" Squidward felt he had a million answers but he couldn't say any. No words could escape his lips. Spongebob breathed heavily before continuing. "I didn't do anything to you, and yet you treated me like hagfish slime." "Well you always bother me with your childish behavior…" said Squidward. "That's still no reason for anyone to be treated so badly." said Red. Squidward wanted to say something to him, but no words could come out. Spongebob just glared at him.  
Red shook his head. "Oh Squidward." he said. "You have a lot of apologizing to do."  
"Oh why bother?" Spongebob said. "He'll never apologize. He's too self-righteous."  
"But I-" Squidward tried to say but was stopped when Spongebob put his yellow hand in front of him. "Save your breath." he said. "If you wouldn't forgive me for bothering you so much, why should I forgive you?"

Squidward couldn't believe what he was hearing.  
This was not like the Spongebob he knew. "I hope you have a nice life." Spongebob said. "I know I never will, since all my friends have betrayed me."  
He and Red began to leave.

Squidward tried to chase after him, but he disappeared. He felt incredibly guilty. "Spongebob!" he called out. But he only got an echo in reply. He was about to go looking for him when he smelt something burning.  
"What the?" he said. Squidward snapped out of his fantasy when he heard his smoke alarm going off. He soon saw that his meat he was cooking was completely burnt.

"Yikes!" he yelped, grabbing a fire extinguisher and putting the little flame out. The burger was now ruined. Squidward just sighed. His appetite was now ruined. But more importantly he was thinking about what Spongebob had said to him in his apparent dream. "What have I done?" he asked to himself. Squidward just sighed and sulked away to his bedroom. "What have I done." he said. "How could I be so stupid?"

Squidward laid down on his bed once he arrived to his room and changing into his nightshirt. He frowned. He felt like a real idiot.

Squidward got under his bed sheets and rested his head on a pillow. Though he didn't want to admit it, Squidward was really, truly, and deeply sorry for what he had done. He lay awake for a few moments more, before drifted off into a fitful sleep.


	7. Mom, Dad, and Gary

**Chapter 7: Mom, Dad and Gary.**

CRASH!

"Oh dear." The sponge woman said as she scooped up the contents of the frying pan she had been using, being careful not to burn herself. "Honey is everything all right?" asked a male sponge coming into the kitchen. Obviously he was the woman's husband. "I'm fine." she insisted. "Everything is fine." Her husband walked over to help. "It's just," the lady began. "our little boy is out there and no one can find him." "I'm sure Spongebob will be ok." said her husband. It was true. They were Spongebob's parents. Harold and Claire Squarepants. "I don't know." Claire said. "It's been so long…" "I know." said Harold. "I knew that worthless holiday wouldn't be a good thing." said his wife. "As did I." Harold said. He sighed. "Oh Harold, where could he be?"  
Claire asked hugging her husband. "I wish I knew." he said. "If I did, I'd go out and look for him." he said. "And I wouldn't stop until I found him." "At least someone cares." said Claire. Harold nodded. They both sighed. They went into their living room and sat on the couch. Gary slithered towards them. He was staying with Spongebob's parents until Spongebob would be found. Gary meowed. "Hey there little guy." Harold said to the snail.  
Gary meowed again and rubbed up against his leg. "Aw are you hungry?" Harold asked. Gary surprisingly shook his head. Gary tried to crawl up Harold's leg. He got the message and picked Gary up, putting him in his lap. Claire petted his shell. Gary purred. "  
You miss Spongebob too, don't you Gary?" Claire asked.  
Gary nodded. He then started sniffling and warm tears gathered in his eyes. Harold wiped his eye stalks. Gary did feel terrible that he too was part of the "No Spongebob Day" fiasco. "Hang in there little friend." Harold said. Gary began to mewl loudly.  
It was as though he was crying. Claire got up and got some tissues for the little snail. Gary sniffled. Claire wiped his eyes. "It's ok Gary." said Claire. Gary sniffled some more. Claire sighed. "Remember when he was born?" she asked. Harold nodded. "I can't remembering ever feeling happier." he said.

They began to reminisce seeing their little boy for the first time.

Harold paced back and forth in the waiting room. His wife had been in labor for nearly four hours now. So he was indeed very nervous. "I hope she's all right." He thought to himself, before shaking it off. "Don't start that now, Harold!" A nurse soon came in. He whirled around. "Mr. Squarepants?" the nurse asked. "Yes?" he replied. "It's over now." she said. "Your baby is born." Harold beamed brightly. The nurse led him back to the maternity ward. Harold followed until they reached his wife's room. When Harold saw his wife holding their new baby, his heart melted. He went closer to Claire."He's here, Harold." she said.  
"Our son." he nodded. The baby in her arms began to coo. His parents gave out a chuckle. "What should we name him?" Claire asked."I don't know. What do you want to name him?" Harold asked. "A child like this deserves a unique name." said Claire.  
Harold smiled. "How about.... Spongebob." he said.  
Claire thought for a moment. "Spongebob Squarepants." she said. "It's perfect." "Spongebob Squarepants."  
Hearing this, the baby boy opened his eyelids for the first time revealing his light blue eyes. "Harold, look." said Claire.  
Harold smiled at the boy. "He has your eyes dear." he said.  
She nodded. Spongebob cooed.

Harold and Claire were brought out of his flashback by Gary's mewling.  
This time, he _was_ hungry.  
"Looks like you're hungry now." said Harold.  
Gary nodded. He picked him up and took him to the kitchen.  
Harold opened a can of snail food he kept on hand. He poured it in to a food bowl. Gary was soon eating his meal. "Eat up there, fellow." Harold said. Gary relished his food, mewling happily as he ate. Harold chuckled and sat back on the couch with his wife.  
Claire embraced him. Harold embraced her back. Gary continued to eat. After he was done, Gary went into another room to take a nap.

Harold thought about his son. He was out there somewhere, probably very lonely. Then a knock on the door was heard. Harold got up to answer it. When the door was open, who he saw gave him a scare. "Yes indeed." Red said. "Would it be possible for me to come in?" he asked. "Why is that?" Harold asked. "I just want to talk to you." said Red. "About Spongebob."Harold glared. "You know something, don't you?" He said. Red just smiled. "If you did something to him…" Claire warned."I assure you, I haven't." said Red. "Cross my heart."

"You better not have." Harold said. "May I come in?" Red asked once again. Harold nodded. Red thanked them. "Now what do you know about our son?" Harold asked. Red smiled. "I know exactly where he is." she said. "Where?" Harold asked.  
"Where is he?" Claire asked. "Ah ah." Red said. "Before I tell you this, you must promise not to tell anyone else.  
Not even the snail." They looked at each other. "Trust me." said Red. "Very well." said Harold. "Please tell us." said Claire. Red just smiled at them. Red just smiled at them. "I'll tell you everything." he said. "But first, I'd like for you all to hear a little story."

**(I know that "Claire" might not be her real name but it was on Wikipedia. I also her that Spongebob's mom's namw wasn't "Gretchen" either. If her real name is mentioned in the series, I'll change it.)**


	8. Search for the Sponge

**Chapter 8: Search for the Sponge  
(Note: It'll get depressing close to the end of this chapter but keep reading. It'll all be ok and worth it ^^)**

It has been almost three weeks since Spongebob has disappeared. And since then, the sun didn't seem to shine on Bikini Bottom anymore.

Everyone, it seems, was overcome with sorrow. Everyone walked without a single spring in their step. And a lot of people seemed to loose their normal interests. Patrick had lost his love for Jellyfishing and Sandy lost her interest in science and karate. Squidward completely lost his interest in art or his clarinet playing (which some saw as a relief). Even Mr. Krabs had completely forgotten about money for once, and didn't even bother to count it. As for Mrs. Puff, she wasn't doing too well either.

Spongebob had not been to class the whole time. She was now reading a letter from the DMV, who plainly told her that if her student missed another class, she would be held to be negligent in her duties and face disciplinary measures. "Oh dear." she said. "What am I going to do?"

Plankton had even given up all attempts to steal the formula because it didn't seem "fun" to him anymore. Things in Bikini Bottom had indeed taken a turn for the worse. With Spongebob gone, happiness seemed to have vanished out of everyone's lives.

"What's happening here?" Sandy asked herself. "Every single happy feeling has vanished." she sighed. She was looking out her transparent treedome wall.

"What are we going to do?" she wondered. She had half a mind to leave the treedome and go find Spongebob herself. Sandy looked down to the grassy floor. A tear fell from her eye. She put her hand to the plastic wall. She collapsed to her knees. Sandy stayed in that slump for what seemed like hours. Then, she felt another emotion surge over her; determination. She got a look of intense focus on her face. She stood up and clutched her fists. "Spongebob," Sandy began. "I'm going to find you." She quickly got her air suit on and left the her home. Her face bore an expression of pure determination. It's often said that a person determined is like a tank; nothing can stop them. That was Sandy to a T.

Sandy passed by Patrick's house, which strangely, was open. She figured she was going to need help to find Spongebob. "Patrick?" she called out. Patrick looked up from his couch. "Hey Sandy." he said in a doleful tone. "I need your help." she called. "With what?" Patrick asked. "I'm looking for Spongebob and I need all the help I can get." said Sandy. "You in?" "In what?" Patrick asked. Sandy smacked her helmet. "To help me find Spongebob." she said. "Oh." he said. "How can I help?" "How else?" Sandy asked. "You help me look for him." Patrick seemed confused. "How do you look for him?" he asked. Sandy just looked at him. "Are you going to help me or not?" she asked. Patrick seemed to think about it for a moment. Sandy growled. "Patrick!" she shouted. "Oh." he said. "Uh, ok, I'll help." "Then let's get going." said Sandy. "We need to round up as much help we can get before we start looking." "So we need to look for people that will help us look for Spongebob to look for Spongebob?" Patrick asked.

Sandy sighed. "Yeah, that's about it." she said. "Ok then." said Patrick coming out of his den. "I'm coming too!" cried out a familiar voice. Squidward. He had been watching from his window. He came to Sandy and Patrick's side. "Squidward?" Sandy asked. "Why would you want to help us find Spongebob?" "Yeah." said Patrick. "You can't stand him." "I.." Squidward began, "had a change of heart." "You had a heart transplant?" Patrick asked. "No, it means he changed his feelings about Spongebob." Sandy said with a smiled. "Just until I can focus back on my art and music skills." Squidward said defending smiled knowingly "So, you guys are in?" she asked Squidward and Patrick nodded. "Good, let's go." said Sandy. Soon the three left to get some more help in the city.

When they got to the city area of Bikini Bottom. It was just as sad and gloomy as before.

The gloom was so intense it seemed to pierce Sandy's heart like a spear. But she couldn't allow her own sorrow to affect he mission. She fought the feelings away and focused on the task at hand. Sandy cleared her throat. "Excuse me." she called out, hoping the people around her would hear. No one even looked at them.

"Hey, can we get a little help here?" Squidward said. "Yeah, Spongebob is missing." Patrick called out.

The crowd just went about their business. They were disappointed. It didn't look like anyone wanted to…"I'm telling you, it was that untalented cephalopod!" Someone shouted. "Huh?" Sandy Patrick and Squidward all said together.

"No, it was that squirrel." Another person said. " I say it was that cheapskate Krabs that did it." said a woman. "What's happening?" Patrick asked. They all saw many more fish folk go to see what was going on. And all joined in the argument. Who was the one that drove Spongebob away. "They're arguing about who drove Spongebob away." Sandy said. "Who drove Spongebob away?" Patrick asked. "Apparently they're trying to answer that question." Squidward said. "What question?" Patrick asked. Sandy and Squidward sighed. All three went to the expanding crowd of quarreling fish. The crowd continued to argue amongst themselves. "I still say it was the bald and big nosed one." said one fish.

"Who are you calling big nosed!?" Squidward snarled. "Well Squidward," Patrick began. "have you seen your nose?" Squidward shot him a death glare. "No, it was Krabs." said another fish. Sandy had had enough of the shouting match. She drew a deep breath. "QUIIIIIIIEEEEET!!!" she shouted. Everyone parted from Sandy, leaving her in the very center of a circle. "Have you all gone crazy!?" She shouted at the top of her lungs. "Why are you arguing over something so small and insignificant as 'who's fault is it'!?"" "Well someone had to be the one who drove Spongebob out of town." said a random fish in the crowd. "Does it matter?" Sandy asked. "No it doesn't. What matters now is he's out there somewhere, and we have to find him." "Oh no." said a female fish. "We're not following you again." "Yeah." said a fish with an Australian accent. "I remember you running us ragged when Spongebob ran away once before!" Sandy frowned. "So I'm pretty sure you drove him away." said the Australian accented fish. "No it was Tentacles!" said another fish. And so the arguing continued. Squidward was fed up with their arguing. "Will you all SHUT UP FOR TWO SECONDS!!!!" he roared. The crowd went silent again. Sandy spoke once more. "Listen." she said. "We all drove Spongebob away." "What are you talking about?" The Australian fish asked. "It's simple." Sandy said. "We all did something to make him feel rejected. So we're all to blame. And that stupid holiday we came up with hit the nail on the head." said Sandy. "What holiday?" Patrick asked. "So what do you want us to do?" Another person asked. Sandy rolled her eyes.  
"Help us find him." she said, exasperated. "Admit it we can't live without Spongebob." Sandy added. "Not even Squidward." "Since Spongebob disappeared," Mr. Krabs began. He too was in the crowd.  
"Me restaurant business has plummeted to the ground."  
"I'll say." Someone in the crowd said. "Spongebob was the best fry cook around. No one could beat his burgers." Everyone nodded in agreement.  
Sandy smiled.

"Ever since he left, my plans just don't seem any fun anymore." A voice piped up. They all looked to see Plankton standing there.

"My music and art has really gone downhill since he left." Squidward said.  
"Not that it was any good to begin with, but now it's gotten worse." "I can't even think straight anymore without my best friend." said Patrick. "Yeah we noticed." Squidward said. "I can't stop crying." Sandy said. "Spongebob was the first friend I made here, and look what I did, what we all did, to him." She sighed."I've lost interest in everything." Sandy continued. "I can't even bring myself to do Karate anymore." "My boating career is in jeopardy now that Spongebob is gone." said Mrs. Puff.

"Seems every one of us is affected somehow." Squidward said. "So we ALL must chip in to find him." "Now who's with us!?" Sandy exclaimed. Everyone in the crowd raised their hands, it seemed.

So the search for the sponge was on.

The entire population of Bikini Bottom were searching high and low for their long lost yellow friend. From Jellyfish Fields to Goo Lagoon, everyone kept searching. Squidward even searched through the city dump, in the offhand chance Spongebob picked it as a place to hide, thinking no one would look there. "Blech." he sais as he wrinkled his nose at the smell of rotting food and garbage. Patrick picked around under every rock eh could find, big and small.  
"Spongebob!" he called after picking up a pebble. Mr. Krabs searched in the city area. No Spongebob. But at least he found some loose change on the streets. "Ah, what luck." he said as he pocketed it. Mr. Krabs continued looking.

Sandy was searching through a kelp forest just outside of town. The darkness gave her a slight sense of the creeps. But Sandy couldn't let her fear get to her now. She was on a mission. "Spongebob?" Sandy called out. As Sandy kept walking she silently prayed. She asked God to help find Spongebob and that he would be ok. As though He had acknowledged her, a breeze blew, making the kelp wave majestically.

After a while everyone met together in a sandy area by some cliffs. They were all pretty tired.

"Whew, what a day." Squidward said. "I know." said Mr. Krabs. "And we still haven't found Spongebob."

Squidward rubbed his feet. "Anyone seen Sandy?" he asked. Sandy wasn't resting like the others.

"Sandy?" Squidward asked. Krabs shrugged his shoulders and walked away. Sandy didn't seem to hear him. She just kept walking. Patrick walked up to Sandy and poked her on the shoulder. "Sandy?" he asked. Sandy turned to him. "Yes?" She asked. Squidward ran up to her and Patrick. "Don't you think you should sit down and rest for a minute?" he asked. "We've been looking for hours." "No." said Sandy. "I promised myself that I would find Spongebob no matter what."

"You're exhausted." Squidward said. "I insist that you rest." "No." said Sandy. "I'm going to keep going until I find him." "Hey guys!" someone shouted. "Mr. Krabs." Sandy exclaimed. "What is it?"

Mr. Krabs rushed over to them. "I found something, lads." he said. He didn't sound too happy. "What's wrong?" Sandy asked. "Follow me." Krabs said. "And prepare yourself." The others shrugged and followed him. Curiosity came upon the rest of the citizens of Bikini Bottom. They all followed in suit. Krabs led them to the edge of a cliff. "See for yourself." He said. They all saw it. A pair of square pants hanging from a branch. Spongebob's pants. Sandy, Squidward and Patrick gasped.

"Oh no..." Sandy began, tears forming in her eyes. "Spongebob… he must have…" Sandy couldn't even get the rest of her words out. Squidward felt sick. He felt like he was about to throw up. Everyone else arrived. And after seeing Spongebob's pants fluttering in the wind, over a thousand hearts became broken.

The next day was the memorial service for Spongebob. Taken place by the cliffs where his pants were found. Everyone brought flowers and shed tears. Sandy could barely keep herself from breaking down and sobbing. Neither could were both shaking as sobs erupted in their beings. Everyone gathered at the cliff's edge.

Prayers were being said all over the place. One by one everybody tossed their flowers in apologizing for what they had done. When Sandy was to toss her flowers, she held them closed for a moment.

"Spongebob." she said. "I'm so sorry. If I only knew how much this was hurting you, I never would have gone through with it." One last tear was shed from Sandy's eyes before she tossed her flowers.

Patrick was next. The tears were flowing like a river. His flowers were missing. "Patrick where are your flowers?" Sandy asked. "Uh, I was hungry." Patrick said, embarrassed. The flowers then popped out of his mouth and fell down the cliff when he belched.

After the service was done, every Bikini Bottomite left the cliff area with their heads hanging in sorrow. "Why the long faces?" A voice called. "Who's there?" Patrick asked. "I know that voice." said Sandy.

Red was standing on a rock outcropping. "What do you want?" Squidward asked.

"I saw you all gathered 'round and I was wondering why everyone is so sad." Red said. "We have a good reason to be sad." said Mr. Krabs. "Which is?" Red asked. "We're too late." said Sandy. She sniffled. "Spongebob's gone forever."

"You don't mean…?" Red said. "I'm afraid so." said Squidward. Red frowned. "We deserve this." said Mr. Krabs. "Yeah." Patrick said in agreement. "We never should have treated Spongebob like we did." Sandy said. Squidward shook his head.

Red kept frowning. "No, no one deserves to suffer the pains of loss." he said. Red then started chuckling.

"What's so funny!?" Sandy shouted. "Yeah haven't you heard of respect?" Squidward asked sternly. Red started laughing a little harder. "You guys, he's not dead." Red said.

"What are you talking about?" Sandy asked. "No, you're playing a trick on us, you devilfish." said Mr. Krabs. Red chuckled again. "The trick was…myself." he said. "Red doesn't exist. He's but a mere shadow of another person." "Huh?" everyone asked. "You see." Red began. "I'm really not Red. " He put both of his hands to his cheeks and grabbed on to them.

"I'm ready!" he shouted. He pulled his cheeks until they came apart like tissue paper. It was revealed that "Red" was just a disguise. And in that disguise was none other Spongebob Squarepants himself. "I'm ready!" Spongebob said again. The crowd gasped. "You're alive!" Sandy exclaimed. "That's right." Spongebob said. "I never really left Bikini Bottom." Spongebob laughed. The others couldn't help but laugh with him, so great was their relief… Squidward didn't laugh though. He was confused. "Wait." he said. "You scared us to death to get back at us?"

"No, of course not." Spongebob said. "And how did you come up with this plan by yourself?" Squidward asked. "Yeah. You're usually not one to come up with something so well planned." said Mr. Krabs. "It wasn't by myself." said Spongebob. "I had a little help." "Who?" Sandy asked. "Me." said a female voice. A person in an air suit like Sandy's came to Spongebob's side. A raccoon. "Kelly?" Sandy asked. "That's right Sandy." Kelly said. "It's me." "Can someone tell me what's going on?" Squidward asked."It's simple." Kelly said. "Care to start?" Kelly asked Spongebob.

"With pleasure." he said. Spongebob then motioned for the murmuring to quiet before he began the story of how the whole event started.

**_(Spongebob's alive!! And he was Red the whole time. How did he come up with this plan? More will come ASAP)_**


	9. Revelations and Reparations

**Chapter 9: Revelations and Reparations**

"Let's see…" Spongebob began. "Whoopee a flashback!" Patrick exclaimed.

"It began about a week ago before you little 'holiday.'" Spongebob said.

---

_Spongebob was walking down the street with the same cheery look on his face, humming a little tune on the way._

_He happily waved to everyone who happened to pass by him. "Hi there!" He said, while waving. They just smiled a really big smile and waved back. Spongebob gave them a winning smile before continuing on. But as he left, the fish people sighed and gave him an annoyed look. "Look at him." One whispered. "What a weirdo." A lady whispered back._

_"And a dweeb." A male said. Spongebob stopped in his tracks. Did he hear them right? He looked back. But the fish folk went back to big smiles. "Hmm." He thought, and went on his way._

_--_

One of the fish from that very day laughed nervously. "Oh." He said. "You heard that?"

"Yes." Spongebob said. "Though the reason didn't become apparent until later that day."

"Yay another flashback!" Patrick said. Squidward rolled his eyes.

---

_Spongebob relaxed at his house, wondering what was going on. How come people were talking behind his back._

_Gary slithered by. "Hey Gary." Spongebob said. Gary gave a short meow and went on his way. _

_"Gary?" Spongebob asked. Gary muttered something to himself. "What do you mean 'Just ignore him it'll be over in a week'?" Spongebob asked. Gary ignored him. " A week." Spongebob said to himself. "Hmm."_

_He went to his calendar hanging on the wall. "Let's see here." He said. Spongebob went a week ahead over that date with his finger. "Huh what do you know?" Spongebob said. "National No Spongebob day."_

_He smiled. "A whole day inspired by me." He said. He sighed with content. "Though last year they were gone for weeks instead of a day." He said. Spongebob's smile started to fade. "Sometimes I wonder." He said. _

_Spongebob sighed. He looked out his window. "I'm not that bad am I?" He asked himself._

_He shook his head. "Nah, get those thoughts out of your head, they're your friends." Spongebob went back to smiling._

"_How about some nice TV?" Spongebob got his remote and turned the television on._

_He flicked channels until the news came on._

_"Hmm." He said. "In other news," the anchorman said. _"_Citizens across Bikini Bottom are preparing for National No Spongebob Day." He said. "Is it that big a deal?" Spongebob asked. "It sure is a big deal for us isn't it?" the anchorwoman asked. "Yes indeed." her partner said._

_"What?" Spongebob said. "Let's go to Perch Perkins downtown." The anchorman said. "Perch?"_

_"Thanks guys." Perch said. "Perch Perkins here, and I'm in downtown Bikini Bottom getting the scoop from the citizenry."_

_He began looking for interviewees. Spongebob felt a "fireball" rise in his throat._

"_Yeah Spongebob is nice." an interviewee said. "But he's so annoying too. Some time away is nice."_

"_That's not so bad." Spongebob thought, trying to stay happy. But they were going to get worse._

_"I can't stand him." Another one said. "I swear he stares at me all the time."_

_Spongebob started sinking in his chair. _

"_I just saw him this morning." A woman said. "He's such a weirdo."_

_Spongebob was shocked. The interviews kept coming in. Each pierced his heart like a sword. Such reckless words they_

_were. "They did say that." Spongebob thought, remembering that morning. "But surely Patrick wouldn't say anything like_

_that." As if on cue, Patrick soon came on, a scowl on his face. "Heh, just what I thought." Spongebob said. "He doesn't_

_like all this nonsense." He sighed with relief . His relief was premature though._

"_You." Perch asked the sea star. "You're Spongebob's best friend. What is your opinion of the upcoming holiday?"_

_"It's great." He said. He was still wearing his scowl, so Spongebob assumed it was sarcasm. Uncharacteristic, but not unusual. "But you look pretty angry to say that it's great." Perch said. "Is there a problem?"_

_Nope." Patrick said. "I just wanted to see if my face would get stuck this way." "Did it?" Perch asked, chuckling._

_"Nope." He said. The angry look melted away. It was replaced by a look of almost visceral glee._

"_So do you enjoy the National No Spongebob Day festivities?" Perch asked. "Oh yeah." Patrick said. "It's a lot of fun."_

_Oh no…" Spongebob said. "It can't be." Sure enough, it was._

"_What about you miss?" Perch asked. "Sandy?" Spongebob said._

_Sandy was the next interviewee. "Some time away is nice." She said. "I mean, he can get on peoples nerves, including mine sometimes." Perch nodded. "But I'm not trying to…" Sandy said before being interrupted by Perkins. "Back to you Bob." He said. That proved to be the shell that broke the seahorse's back. Spongebob turned the TV off. His eyes were full of tears. He started sniffling. He got off his chair and sulked to hi room, crying in agony._

_---_

"You people broke my heart." Spongebob said. Kelly looked at the crowd and shook her head in disappointment.

"What happened to me last Christmas was bad." She said. "But _this_ took the cake."

"How did you get involved?" Sandy asked.

"I was just getting there." He said. "It was a little later that same day, and I was crying my eyes out…"

"Another flashback!" Patrick exclaimed. "Yay!" "Will you cut it out!?" Squidward shouted.

---

_Spongebob sniffled as he cried his eyes out. Literally._

_He couldn't believe it. Everyone had betrayed him. "Oh!" Spongebob shouted at the ceiling. "Isn't there someone who can see past my mistakes!?" There was silence. He sighed. He then noticed a book on the floor, A note stuck out from it's pages. He pulled it out and opened it up._

"_Dear Spongebob," He read._

"_I want to thank you for helping me out for when I was down."_

"_Kelly…" Spongebob said. He managed to smile as he read the letter._

"_Bikini Bottom is lucky to have a guy like you." He read along._

"_Thanks." He said. "It doesn't feel like it though." He then came across something else she wrote._

"_If you ever need help with anything, let me know." Spongebob read. He flipped the note over to see where Sandy wrote Kelly's email address._

_He then got an idea. _

_He went downstairs to the computer he recently bought. He powered it up and waited for it to boot up. "I hope Kelly can help me." Spongebob thought.. When the computer was up and running, he loaded the web browser and went straight to his e-mail. _

_---_

"Spongebob told me everything." Kelly said. Everyone began murmuring. "I can't believe y'all would come up with such a meaningless holiday." She added. "So you two came up with this whole shenanigan?" Mr. Krabs asked.

"Yep." Kelly said. "Because there should be no holiday that isolates someone like that."

"So we came up with the whole "Red" thing." Spongebob said. "To see if you would learn a lesson in this." Kelly said.

Sandy smiled and went to them. She hugged Spongebob tightly, but it wasn't enough to hurt him. Patrick joined in the hug. He was so happy to have his best friend back. Kelly smiled at them. But then she noticed the others weren't smiling. "Uh-oh." She thought. "My business has gone down the drain thanks to you two!" Mr. Krabs shouted.

"I was just about to get fired thanks to your absence young man!" said Mrs. Puff. The enormous shoal of Bikini Bottomites gathered around the little group of friends, muttering in anger. "Uh-oh." Patrick said. "Backfire." said Sandy. Spongebob gulped. "Big fish to Zipporah." He said to Kelly. "We have a situation."

Kelly was a step ahead. She bared her sharp teeth and growled. She took a deep breath. "WAIT!" She screamed to the crowd. It was so loud it could be heard in Atlantis.

"Nigel did you hear something?" The Lord Royal Highness asked. "No." Nigel said.

"Man! Does no one ever listen in this town!?" Kelly shouted.

Everyone fell silent when they saw this. "Wow." Sandy thought. "I've never seen her that angry."

"Listen to what!?" a fish asked. Kelly sighed. "How would you like it if there was a holiday that pointed out how you get on other people's nerves?" She asked. "Well there is a No Patrick Day." Patrick pointed out. "And when everyone left," Kelly said. "how did it make you feel?" "Um..." He thought. "Well, it kind of hurt me." Patrick said. "I was all alone."

Kelly nodded at him. "And how do you think I felt when everyone left me alone?" Spongebob asked.

"Well can you blame us?" Mr. Krabs asked.

"Actually, yes I can." Kelly said. "You betrayed your best worker." Kelly scoffed. "Everyone _betrayed_ the biggest heart in this whole town." She said. "Whatever Spongebob did in the past doesn't even _compare_ to what _you_ chuckleheads did!"

Sandy and Patrick felt so ashamed of themselves. "At least _some_ people can sometimes get over my blunders." Spongebob said to Patrick and Sandy. They smiled.

"Don't any of you remember the golden rule?" Kelly asked. "Did you say gold?" Mr. Krabs asked with excitement in his voice. "Gimee gimee gimee!" Kelly giggled. "Not that kind of gold." She said. "The golden rule says to treat others the way you want to be treated." "Like how everyone rips on gossip columnists for publishing bologna about celebrities?" Someone asked. "Eh, yeah, kind of." Kelly said. "Do you guys see now?" Spongebob asked. "I always treated everyone hear as my friend, even if I didn't know them. And it really hurt my feelings when you all abandoned me, to celebrate a holiday that reminds you all of the mistakes I make."

"You're right you guys." Sandy said to Spongebob and Kelly. "There shouldn't be any holiday like that at all."

Kelly smiled. The crowd murmured amongst themselves. The small group in front of them was nervous that they would be angry again. To their surprise, the murmuring didn't sound angry. Kelly smiled. It would seem that what they had said reached their hearts. Mr. Krabs spoke. "Eh, I suppose if we didn't treat you that way," He said, rubbing the back of his neck. "you wouldn't have had to come up with that act of yours."

Kelly smirked. "Still, you didn't have to pretend you were dead." Krabs said. "What are you talking about?" Spongebob asked, confused. "We saw your pants hanging on a branch by the cliff." said Patrick. "Oh that!" Spongebob said laughing. "I was camping out here during the whole "Red" thing. A strong wind blew a couple of my clothes away. Come on, I wouldn't stoop that low. Though it did add a interesting touch."

Sandy snickered. "There is still one more thing." Kelly said. "Something that starts with an 'A' and ends with 'Pology.'"

"Pology?" Patrick asked. "Is that a new letter?"

"No, an apology." Sandy said. Kelly nodded. "I'm sorry Spongebob." Patrick said. He squeezed Spongebob in a big sea bear hug. " "Thanks." Spongebob squeaked. "I need to breathe." "Oops." Patrick said letting go. "Sorry buddy."

Yeah, I'm sorry too lad." Mr. Krabs said.

Sandy put her hand on the corner of his head. "I'm sorry too buddy." She said. "We all are. Right Squidward?"

Squidward looked at them all. He wasn't sure what to say. "Uh, I just want my clarinet playing to be better." He said.

"Come on Squidward." Kelly said. "You know you're sorry."

He sighed. No use hiding it. "Yeah, I'm sorry too." He said. He hung his head, a little ashamed at his weakness.

Kelly chuckled. "That took guts." She said. "Can you ever forgive us?" Sandy asked. Spongebob looked at them, and smiled widely. "Oh, of course I do." He said. "How can I not forgive you?" Sandy felt joy rising in her heart. It was almost like her dream. Without even thinking, she enveloped Spongebob in a hug. Spongebob smiled and returned the favor. Both felt joy and warmth in their hearts. Kelly and Patrick joined them, making in a group hug.

The others couldn't resist. They soon found themselves in a group hug as well.

Moments later they were all walking back home. "You know," Mr. Krabs said. "Since we're not going to do the National no Spongebob…" "Or Patrick!" Patrick said. "Or Patrick…" said Krabs. "Should there be a better holiday to replace it?"

Everyone thought for a moment. "Hmm." Spongebob said. He smiled and snapped his fingers. "I've got an idea!" He said.


End file.
